Aug 7 2011

The Big Announcement

There is never an opportune time to make announcements such as the one I need to make today.

Today at the West University Church of Christ, I announced my resignation as their Associate and Worship Minister.

Saying goodbye to those you love is one of the hardest things to do, and I find that to be doubly true as I face the task of saying goodbye to the wonderful members at West U. After nearly three fruitful years of ministry at West U, I have been called to be the Preaching Minister of a congregation in Tennessee starting at the end of September.

This was not an easy decision to make. Being the Associate and Worship Minister at West U is more than a job – it is a place of spiritual community and growth, as well as a place where I have grown as a Christian, a Father, a Husband, and as a minister.

2 months ago, this was not even on our radar.  We were moving forward with our work here, recuperating from our VBS and getting ready for the next big thing.  I am accepting this job because there is no doubt in my mind this is what God is calling us to do.

Since I started preaching at the age of 14, I always dreamed of what it would be like to be able to do that full time.  After having served as a youth minister, campus minister, family minister, worship minister, associate minister and life group minister, God has finally seen fit to place me in a role where I will be able to do just that.  I owe the preparedness I have for this job to the West U congregation, Calvin for letting me speak, and the elders for giving me so many opportunities and seeing the potential in me.

For the next step in my journey, God has seen fit to provide me a congregation to work for in Nashville, TN, which is only 20 miles from where I grew up and where most of my family lives still today.  I will be serving as the full time Preaching Minister for the Granny White Church of Christ, located right next to Lipscomb University.  

While living here in Houston, our closest family member has been nearly 800 miles and a 13 hour drive away, you have stepped up and become that family to us.  The West U congregation has been a family to Kristen, Josie and I.  Josie learned to crawl while we were interviewing for this job.  They have cried with us when we lost loved ones.  They have prayed for us while we were separated during mission trips.  They have helped us in more ways than they will ever know.

We will love and miss you, and you will always have a special place in our hearts.

For those of you at the Granny White congregation, we look forward to our work together.  We look forward to joining you soon.

Aug 1 2011

A Simple Prayer

On Sunday, my sermon was on Matthew 6:9-13, which many people call “The Lord’s Prayer”.  After reading it and looking at the context, it might be better described as “The Disciple’s Prayer”, for this is an example of how we should pray.

Before the sermon, I showed this little video clip –


If you’re like me, I struggle with my prayer life.  When do I need to pray?  How long do I pray?  What do I say when I pray (in the verses right before the Disciple’s Prayer, Jesus says “The Father already knows exactly what you need before you ask Him!!”.

There are 6 petitions made in this prayer.

1.  Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name:  We need to treat God with highest honors, and set Him apart as Holy.  We must show adoration for God.

The word used for Father is the word “Abba”, which was the everyday language used by Jesus.  It was the word used by Jewish children when they spoke to their fathers, but it was also the same word adults used when addressing their fathers.  In a sense, it means “daddy”, but in another way it conveys authority, warmth, and intimacy of a loving father’s care.  We are invited to share in the intimacy that God the Father had with God the Son, and that’s really cool.

This also addresses where God is located, in Heaven.  That’s what sets him apart from your earthly Father.  He has sovereign rule over all things.  It also reminds us that He is holy, sanctified, and set apart.  We need to begin our prayers acknowledging who He is and what He is.

2.  The second petition is “Your Kingdom Come”.  Christians are called to pray and work for the continual advance of God’s kingdom.  It refers to the reign of Christ in the hearts and lives of not only believers, but in his body, which is the church.  We must increasingly reflect his love, obey his laws, honor him, do good and proclaim good news.

3.  The third petition is “Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  This probably refers to God’s revealed will, which involves conduct that is pleasing to him as revealed in Scripture.  Psalm 40:8 says “I desire todo your will, your law is within my heart”.  We must desire to act in accordance to his will by obeying his commands.

The first three petitions are giving us the priorities in prayer, so we are less likely to pray selfishly or frivolously.  The next three are more personal.

4.  The fourth petition is “Give us this day our daily bread”.  This first of the personal petitions reminds us of our needs, and that we get those needs from God.  By implication, this does not just refer to bread, but all our physical needs that we require.

5.  The fifth petition is “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”.  The word debt here is interchangeable with the word sin.  When we sin, we create an obligation to God that can never repay.

6.  The sixth petition is “Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil”.  Since God does not tempt us (James 1:13), this implies that we are to pray for relief from testing.  Trials and hardships will come to all believers.  James 1:2-4 tells us that believers should count it all joy when trials come for we will be strengthened by them.

We also must be aware there is a spiritual battle going on every day in our lives.  Satan does his best to win us over, and we must remember to ask God for protection from Satan.

Jesus ends with reminding us to forgive others as we have been forgiven.  We must always remember there is direct relationship between having been forgiven by God and the forgiveness that we extend others.

So, pray to God, remembering to acknowledge who and what He is, and then and only then take your requests before Him.  May we all do a better job in communicating with our God!

Jul 26 2011

Love Without Limits

Recently, my grandfather passed away.  While at the visitation and the funeral, gathered around family, we were all reminded that he never had anything negative to say about others.  He didn’t speak in an angry way.  He loved life and loved others.  This was an excellent lesson he taught us, but one that Jesus taught as well.

Its easy to love people who treat you well.  However, how do you love someone who doesn’t treat you well?  The kid in school who makes fun of you?  The boss who takes credit for your work, or blames you for things going wrong?  Those people are a bit harder to love.

Jesus tells the Pharisees in Matthew 5:43-48 they are to love their neighbor, but also love their enemy.  The King James goes on to say “bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.”  We know Jesus wants us to love our neighbor, that’s for sure.  He tells us over and over again.  However, the Jewish Rabbis taught that their “neighbor” only applied to fellow Jews.  This worked out well because the Jews pretty much hated everyone else.  The Romans actually accused and charged the Jews with hatred of the human race.

The problem is that the Old Testament, or no where in the Bible in fact, tells us to hate our enemies.  There are places in the Old Testament where God hates evil, and may not care for the evildoer, but he never commands his people to hate their enemies.  We are to shower them with unconditional kindness.

I heard a story about Wade Boggs, former third baseman for the Boston Red Sox.  He hated playing at  Yankee Stadium while playing for Boston, not because of the Yankees but because of one particular fan.  This fan would heckle him, yell out insults and profanities.  One day, Boggs had listened to this enough.  He walked over to the area where this guy was, looked at him, and asked “Are you the guy that is always yelling at me?”.  The fan responded “Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?”

Wade Boggs took a new baseball, signed it, and threw it up for the guy to have.  The guy never heckled Boggs again.  In fact, he became one of his biggest supporters.

That’s what we are urged to do with our enemies.  Find a way to show them love, especially the love of Christ in all we do.  God is going to bless everyone on this earth, whether they believe in him or not.  He sends the rain and the sun to bless even his enemies by common grace (vs 45).  We need to love people without discrimination like God loves us.  We also need to love our enemies because we need to show there is no greater love than Christian love.

Jul 14 2011

Dear Granddaddy,

On Sunday, July 10, 2011, my Granddaddy Widick passed from this earth.  I had the daunting task of being one who would officiate at his funeral.  Below are the words I shared with the crowd gathered.  These words were from the perspective of his 7 grandchildren, written in letter form to the greatest Granddaddy in the world.

Dear Granddaddy,

I hope that all of us have made you proud.  You worked so hard to get this family started.  We know that you loved us all so very much.

I have a few confessions to make.  First, one day when I was very little, I walked down into your basement and was playing around with some of your tools on your massive workbench.  I found an oil can.  I had never seen one like this.  It looked like the one Dorothy used on the tin man in the “Wizard of Oz”.  I grabbed it and pretended everything down stairs was the tin man, and gave it a good oiling.  Sorry about the mess, but at least nothing squeaked anymore.

I also would always forget to turn the shop light off in your basement.  I was always fascinated by the pull string that had the doughnut shaped ring to it.  You could always see if the light was left on or not by looking down through the vent next to your chair in the den.

I know we all as grandchildren loved you very much.  We want to thank you.  Thank you for letting us play and hang out with you in your basement.  We were always fascinated by it.  I can vividly remember everything about the basement you were so proud of at the house on Darden.  Walking in to your little office, where you had your small sofa, a little 13 inch television set (which you got as a Christmas Present one year from your children), one of 4000 puzzles laid out that you were always working on, and your pipe.  OH, how you always smelled so special with that pipe smell.    I remember a small black and gold radio you had on a shelf behind the couch.  I remember finding reasons to go and wash my hands in your special little sink in the basement.  The water was always ice cold.

We were always impressed by the enormous collection of aluminum cans as we would go up the stairs.  We were also always fascinated by all the different and unique knick knacks you would keep in the unfinished ceiling of the basement.  I think each of us found something new everytime we looked.

There wasn’t a time we remember when we didn’t look at your birthmarks on your arm.  We’re sorry, but we were so impressed!  You also always had ink stains on your hands from working so hard to provide for us.  I know you had to be exhausted after you would get home from work, but whenever you came home when we would spend the night with you, you always took time for us.  We don’t recall you ever being too tired to get down on the floor with us and play.  Even in your last days, we saw you playing with our own children, loving them and holding them dearly, being so proud to be a great granddaddy.

You got us back though, for all the times we aggravated you.  Every time you saw one of us you would come up to us and do one of a few things:

You would grab our arm, and squeeze right between our muscle and our bone.  It wouldn’t hurt, but it didn’t feel good.  You also had the ability to grab that tender spot just above our knee when we would sit beside you, and squeeze just hard enough.  You also loved to count all of our ribs, and you would get us all as you tickled us.

However, all those things were just in fun.  We know you loved to pick on us.  But you also showed us your love in the simplest things.  You would always hand crank the best ice cream out on the deck.  From the wonderfully thick and sweet chocolate ice cream to perfect as could be peach ice cream, you knew just how many times to crank that ice cream.  As Jackson put it last night to me, I don’t think anyone else was strong enough to do it but you.

John 14:1-4 Jesus tells us not to let our hearts be troubled. If we believe in God; believe also in Jesus. His Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would he have told us that He was going there to prepare a place for us? And if he is going and preparing a place for us, he will come back and take us to be with Him that we also may be where He is.  We know the way to the place where He is going.

There’s one problem with this verse, granddady.  Some of our fondest memories of being with you were in the back yard, sitting on the cedar swing with you, walking around the yard looking at your plants and flowers, and most importantly – the annual Easter Egg hunt.  You would walk around and help each of your grandchildren find the eggs that were hidden a little tougher than they should have been.

We know you’ve moved on.  But the problem is you probably don’t care too much about the room Jesus prepared for you.  You probably care more about the backyard.  We know you’ve probably already started a garden at the home Jesus prepared for you. You’re probably even giving Jesus tips on how to make flowers and tomatoes grow a little fuller and a little riper.

Our memories of you will forever live in our hearts.  Yesterday, as we gathered as a family in this room before guests started to arrive to honor you, I was reminded of the great legacy that you have to your name.  I looked around and was reminded of God’s word to Abraham when he promised him that he would become a great nation – We are a great nation as a family devoted to God, all because of the care and kindness of this wonderful man.

Indeed, each of the grandkids heard you threaten with the phrase “You see that ‘mean’ in my eye?  I know I would try to find it, but would never succeed in seeing it.  None of us ever could.  Admit it granddaddy, there was no mean in your eye, only love.  But granddaddy, do you see that tear in my eye?  Its real, and its there because you’re gone.

May we all walk daily in the footsteps of Jesus as you did.  May we all be the examples to our own families as you always were to us.  May we find comfort in knowing you’re with a Savior who always walked with you.  May we continue to live out the legacy you began for this Widick family.  We know we will see you again one day, and can’t wait to see what kind of backyard you will have grown using that heavenly soil.

Jul 7 2011

The Blind Man Stood By

I have to preface this post.  I have never been a big fan of U2, not because I have anything against them, but because I’ve just never gotten into their music.  However, I do know that Bono is probably one of the kindest, most compassionate men that is walking the face of the earth in this present day.

Recently, my good friend Jason Bybee went to a U2 concert in Nashville.  You can read of his previous attempts to make it to a U2 show HERE.  On several occasions Jason has offered up some great suggestions for must have music for my iPod, so I was eager to talk to him after the concert to see how it went, and to see if I could finally get into U2.  This time, Jason had nothing to do with me becoming a fan of U2 and new music.  It was the artist himself that forever changed my impression of this dynamic band.  Read the article below:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A blind man from Arizona had a lifelong dream come true when he was invited by Bono to jam with Irish rock band U2 on stage, myFOXphoenix.com reported Tuesday.

Adam Bevell, who started losing his sight at the age of 14, caught Bono’s attention at a U2 concert in Nashville over the long weekend.

Towards the close of the show, the band’s frontman spotted Bevell holding a sign declaring “blind guitar player,” indicating that the fan wanted to play and dedicate a song to his wife.

“[Bono] said ‘C’mon up here. Get this dude a guitar,’ and I thought no way man, there’s no way this is happening,” Bevell recalled.

Bono of U2.

INFphoto.com
Bono of U2.

“Dude’s gonna play some guitar,” Bono told the crowd.

With some help from Bono, Bevell performed his favorite song “All I Want Is You.”

“It was the greatest feeling knowing that I was playing with the greatest rock star in the world but he didn’t make me feel like that at all, he made me feel like we were in our living room,” Bevell said, adding that playing with U2 was something he had on his bucket list.

Bono is known for his generosity and humanitarian work around the world and he did not disappoint in this case — he let Bevell keep the guitar.

Bevell, who lives in Phoenix, Arizona, has been to at least 20 U2 concerts over the years.

 

You can watch the whole performance by watching the video below:

This guy was given a gift at the end of this wonderful ride of a lifetime that no one else can say they’ve ever received, and that’s pretty cool.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t take an opportunity here to make a correlation between this and a similar gift that I’ve received.  The greatest and most compassionate man to EVER walk on the face of the earth gave me an even better gift.  Jesus Christ, the perfect, sinless Savior, gave me a few things – his life, his heart, and salvation for an eternity – and I think that trumps the guitar.  The cool thing about the gift that Jesus gave me is that its not just for me, but its for us all.

 

Jun 28 2011

To Tell the Truth

Paul Harvey told a story that I remember my dad using in sermon illustrations as a child.  Four teenage boys were late to school one morning because they were goofing off and having fun.  They walked into their first period class with about 5 minutes left, and solemnly told the teacher that they were sorry they were late, and that they had stopped to change a flat tire.  The teacher looked at them and smiled sympathetically, and said it was too bad they were late, because they had missed a test.  However, she was willing to let them make it up.  She asked the boys to go to the four corners of the room, and she handed them each a blank piece of paper.  She told them the make up test consisted of one question, and if they got it right, they would pass the test.  The teacher then asked the question – “Which tire was flat?”

Jesus commands us to be truthful.  In Matthew 5:37, he says to let our yes be yes and our no be no.  In the preceding verses, he has told the Pharisees to stop their complex system of swearing and making oaths, because they were time and time again finding loopholes to get out of them.  For example, if you swore by Jerusalem, it was not binding, but if you swore towards Jerusalem, it was not binding.  This was not based on any law God had made, but again, it was a loophole they had created for themselves to get out of keeping their word.  They had a whole system that allowed and rewarded dishonesty.

We do this time and time again.  We say that we’ll pray for someone, and we never intend on doing it.  We say we’ll be there for a person, but when push comes to shove, other things are more important.  We do what we can to sell ourselves as true Christians, but when faced with actually doing it, we get out of it by creating our own loophole.

Jesus is encouraging us at this point to live a life that we would not be ashamed of in any way, especially in our speech.  Live a life so that if all the things you said and did were being written down, you wouldn’t have any problem with someone going back and reading it.  Do you think that would drastically change your speech?  Ephesians 4:25 tells us that we shouldn’t lie to each other, especially because we’re all in this world together, and we should work together for the good of the Kingdom, not against each other.  Colossians 3:9 tells us not to lie to each other because when we became Christians, we put that lifestyle behind us.

Its also not enough just to tell the truth, we must be truthful in our actions as well.  Our actions must match our language.  Otherwise, we lack the integrity to back up the truth we speak.  Nothing can be more powerful than when the world hears a Word of truth lived out in our lives.  The words you speak are amplified by the life you live.

Ultimately, we walk in truth if we walk in the path of God.  Every time God spoke it was truth.  Everything Jesus said and did, it was truth.  If we are made in his image, and we are to strive to live like Jesus, shouldn’t we do the same?

 

 

Jun 7 2011

Watch Out for Aliens

Ever since I was a little boy, I haven’t really been scared of much. I never really was all that scared of the dark. I wasn’t afraid of clowns or spiders. The only thing I was ever scared of was aliens. Yup, that’s right, aliens. I attribute that to a lot of episodes of Unsolved Mysteries on Wednesday nights after church, the show Amazing Stories which used to come on Sunday nights, and the fact that I swear there were aliens in our backyard.

I’ve always been scared of them as long as I can remember. Now of course, why aliens would come all this way to earth just to freak us out is beyond me. It just creeps me out. So on Wednesday night of this week, I did a class based upon my fear of Aliens.

You remember that movie Signs? I loved it, and hated it all at the same time. There were plenty of great spiritual applications though in that movie. Let me share my favorite.

Do you remember in that movie when they had boarded up their home, and headed down to the basement to tough it out? They placed a pick axe in front of the door, and hoped that would keep out the aliens (they can travel light years to earth but can’t open a door?). The little boy, Morgan, said that the aliens would be good problem solvers, and would find a way in. Sure enough, the basement used to have a coal shaft in it. As Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix looked around for it, Morgan was standing in front of the shaft, and an alien grabbed him from behind. Just as Morgan said, they found a way in.

You know, Satan does the same thing. He’s a great problem solver. Just when we think we’re safe, in the privacy of our own home, protected by locked doors, alarms, and whatever else we may have, Satan finds a way in. We protect our hearts by going to church, participating in small groups, reading our Bibles and praying, but Satan still finds a way in.

And you know what the sad thing is? We aren’t easily scared of the power that Satan has. We jump and scream at scary movies, but we don’t flinch at all when we read of the fact that Satan is alive and well in the world.

Remember what kills the aliens in the movie Signs? Yeah, Water. I though it was cheesy as well. These terrible aliens are hurt by water. They have poison gas flowing through their bodies, but water will destroy them.


About the only thing, however, that will destroy the presence of Satan in our lives is…well, water. Being buried in Christ in the waters of Baptism cleanses our souls, our bodies, our lives. That water, which symbolizes the blood of Christ, is the one thing Satan can’t deal with. It drives him away.

At least for a while. Remember, we said Satan was a good problem solver. Becoming a Christian doesn’t make you exempt from Satan. Satan can, and will find a way back into your lives. Be watchful, Satan goes around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Satan is real, but my Jesus beats him every time.

Jun 6 2011

The Church – A Numbers Game


I’ve been involved with churches that were big, and involved with churches that were small. The first church I worked for averaged about 180 members on Sunday morning for their worship service. Compare that to the church I attended when I graduated from high school, and where my father currently serves as a minister, which now has about 700 members.

One of my best friends and fellow minister, Jason, works for a congregation in Alabama that has well over 2000 members. The church I attended for the longest time from about 1st grade till around 10th grade only had around 35 in attendance.

Seemingly, according to Mac Lynn’s 2006 book “Churches of Christ in the United States”, it seems as if the majority of the congregations in the United States have anywhere from 50 to 199 members. If you were to take an average, the churches of Christ average about 97-100 members per congregation.

I have to be honest, I hate numbers. I’ve hated numbers for a long time. It started with Algebra 1 in 9th grade. I had a horrible teacher who cared more about flirting with the athletes in the class instead of teaching us math. Ever since then, I gave up on numbers.

When I was in youth ministry, there was always a double standard for numbers. I needed to grow the amount of people in the youth group, but it was okay for the church to stay the same size. If we weren’t bringing in more teenagers to the youth group class, then I must be a lousy minister. That equation, sadly, is the equation that so many ministers must live up to.

Now I work for a church that is hovering with an average attendance of 160 or so. Of course, according to the studies of the church, this is an average, or better than average size for a congregation. Since I have moved here, I finally seem to have figured something out. No matter how large the church is in numbers, if you don’t have love, it means nothing.

Sure, 2000 members singing in harmony together during a worship service sounds wonderful, but so do 75 members.

You may have the best and most educated ministers in the few 1000+ member congregations, but the churches of 200 members have ministers who put a whole lot of time into their work as well.

Most importantly, I feel as if when we pressure people to become members, they run. And if they run, more than likely they are just running away completely, and not to another congregation. When we throw a membership card in their face as they walk in the door, they’re naturally going to think that we’re just like every other venue in their lives.

Get to know them. Talk with them. If they want to give you their contact info, they will based upon desire to get to know your church better.

Have cards for them to take that have contact info for your church, service times, activities, etc. If they give you permission to call them or email them, great! If not, let them make the next move.

If you have done all you can as a church, they will want to come back. If the church was not friendly, clean, inviting, prepared, organized, welcome…no amount of cards, visiting or free gifts will get them back into the church.

We don’t want the church to sound needy. When a church sounds needy by saying things such as “We really need you to be a member” or “Our church sure could use another servant”, it comes across as needy. Instead, offer to do something for them, instead of trying to sign them up for the Benevolence Committee on their first visit. See what you can do for them, or if they have any questions.

The truth of the matter is, God did wonders throughout the world with Jesus and his 12 disciples. If I’m doing the math correct, 12 < the average number of members in the Church today.

I hate numbers. I always have, and I always will. The only number that matters is that there is ONE God, ONE Savior, and ONE Hope. Let’s just do our best to show everyone who comes through that door, or everyone we come in contact with, or everyone we see on a daily basis, that Jesus Christ loves them and died for them.

Most importantly, we need to show each other love.  Do I exemplify that love all the time?  Not even close, but I’m trying, and I hope you will too.

May 27 2011

For Josie, on her 3rd birthday

For three years, I have had the pleasure of knowing the most wonderful little girl in the world.    On May 27, 2008, Josie Layne Widick was born into this world at Crestwood Hospital in Huntsville, Alabama.  My life changed that day, and every day since, I have been overwhelmed with the joy of being a father.

Fun facts about Josie:

-Her favorite color is pink
-Her favorite shows are Little Bear and Dora the Explorer (but also loves the Wonder Pets, Olivia, Ni Hao Kai Lan, and Super Why)
-She loves to show people how to do jumping jacks
-Her favorite songs are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and her ABCs
-She can spell and write her own name!
-She loves to play with her baby dolls
-She sleeps in a big girl bed
-She is very particular about things, everything has to be in order
-Her favorite meal is chicken nuggets, strawberries and maybe some carrots
-She loves chocolate milk and apple juice
-She misses her family in Tennessee and Alabama dearly and talks about them often
-Her favorite game is Hi Ho Cherry O
-She loves to go to church and go to class!

Today, we celebrated by going to the Houston Children’s Museum with Grandmommy and Granddaddy.  Below are some pictures of the day!  (Tomorrow, we celebrate with friends as well)

Driving at the museum!

Josie fishing!

Playing at "Flow Works" outside at the Museum. It was 94 degrees today!

Mommy and Josie looking at the baby chicks.

Josie's favorite part of the museum was the market place where she could go shopping!

Josie serving up some diner food at the museum to Grandmommy and Granddaddy

Josie's new baby bed from Nana and Papa

A raincoat and umbrella she got for her birthday. She insisted it was raining in the house and didn't want to take it off!

By lanewidick • Posted in Family
0
May 24 2011

A Gift for the Mrs.

In case you weren’t aware, my wife and I about a year ago, after being dedicated Dave Ramsey listeners, proudly became Debt Free.  One of the hardest things about being debt free is remaining debt free.  Its so tempting at times to justify things, saying “we’re debt free, so let’s go ahead and get it”.  However, then you remember how much freedom there is in being debt free, and you remember how your goal is to continue to be that way, and it makes decisions a lot easier.

Again, I’m not bashing anyone who is not debt free.  We aren’t officially debt free, because we do still have a mortgage.  However, aside from that we owe nothing to anyone!  I want to encourage all of you who think that debt is a way of life, to rethink that idea.  Being a minister for all of my adult life, I have not brought in a ton of money.  I feel we live a very modest life style.  We don’t have a lot of luxuries.

So, when it came time this past week to look for a new car for Kristen, we had a lot of things to think about.  We have enough money to get a car payment and it not break our backs completely.  We would have been able to get a newer car with less miles.  But it would have completely nullified all we had worked towards.  We had been setting aside money knowing this day was coming.  We got a decent offer for our trade in, and we put cash towards the new car, and walked out of the dealer with a 2005 Toyota Highlander with 72,000 miles on it.

We’ve always liked the Highlanders.  The new models are very attractive.  However, we knew that we didn’t have $30,000 to buy one, nor did we want to pay $300 a month towards something for 5-6 years.  So we settled on a much cheaper vehicle.

No, its not new.  No, its not as shiny.  But its an upgrade from the 04 CRV.  And most of all, my wife is ECSTATIC!!  I really want to encourage everyone to aim for a debt free life!  YOU CAN DO IT!!  I know you can!

Here’s a picture of Josie and Kristen with the new ride:

Kristen and Josie modeling in front of her "new" car!!